Reviews

Kôji Shiraishi, the provocative mind behind the films Grotesque, Carved, and The Ring vs. The Grudge finally found a loving and nurturing home at Unearthed Films for his 2014 feature, A Record of Sweet Murder. Delivering on their promise of one new release a month, the distribution company enthusiastically added this …

When I was a kid, I went to an exhibit at an art museum that celebrated Rube Goldberg machines. While my family wandered the museum and looked at everything else, I stayed in the basement to watch marbles knock over dominoes, light candles, and pour water for what felt like …

From Director Davide Melini (The Sweet Hand of the White Rose 2010) comes a new short film called Lion, and it explores a topic that is still controversial in today’s day and age: domestic abuse. Lion stars newcomer Pedro Sánchez as Leon, a young boy who begins the film cowering …

When it comes to horror films, we all have our subgenres and niche weaknesses. Anything that comes out that fits our little obsessions immediately becomes a must-watch, sight-unseen. My heart sings for two things: Deadly Games and Horror Westerns. Give me Saw (2004) or Union Furnace (2015 – read our review …

As a horror fanatic, probably the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the name Ruggero Deodato is Cannibal Holocaust. It’s perfectly natural, crafting one of the most controversial films in history does tend to define your reputation. Admittedly, it was primarily the only place I really knew him …

I love reviewing films for festivals, because more often than not, I discover brilliant gems that I never would have found on my own. This year, 2019, is PopHorror’s first year covering anything for Fantaspoa, and I can already say that the festival definitely did not disappoint. I had the …

Opening with live rats being tossed into a blender set to frappe, The Cleaning Lady immediately caught my attention… especially when I realized that this concoction was someone’s actual meal. Cue dry heaving and explosive vomiting. Though gore hounds craving an abundance of blood will find little to quench their …

This whole month, I’ve been trying to watch horror anime that demonstrates the range of the medium. We’ve had emotional stories, thrillers and impossibly weird non-linear storytelling, and all of it fits into one subgenre of horror or another. One thing we’ve been missing, though, is a mind-peeling, hair-whitening, balls-through-the-wall …

A few times a year, I open my mailbox to find an innocuous package from cult film preservation and releasing company, Vinegar Syndrome. I never know what film I’m going to get. In the past few months, I’ve reviewed a body horror film (Australia’s Body Melt 1993), a horror parody …

If Furiosa, Charlize Theron’s character from Mad Max: Fury Road, dropped a boatload of acid and a mix of shrooms, (Don’t do drugs, kids, and stay in school), then what she threw up – provided she was still conscious – would be Rage 2. Rage 2 is a mixed bag …